In honor of April's National Poetry Month, I am so pleased to offer a giveaway of SEVEN copies of my poetry book, Poetry of a Hobo Mama: The First Three Years. Each copy retails for $11.99, so the combined value of this giveaway is $72!

Poetry of a Hobo Mama is a collection of poems inspired by the initial three years of parenting my firstborn son, Mikko.

About the book

I sling my baby like a bindle on my back,
tramping along the tracks
countless feet have worn before.

Poetry of a Hobo Mama contains three years' worth of parenting poetry, written from the time my husband, Sam, and I were preparing for Mikko, through watching him grow to three years old. I've intentionally included poems that speak of our natural parenting journey — breastfeeding, the family bed, elimination communication, and natural birth among them.

The book is a combination of free verse and more traditional poetry forms, and the topics and tone run through all the variations I felt when writing them: the grief of miscarriage, the anticipation of trying to conceive, the upheaval of the newborn months, the joy of parenting, and the balance of motherhood with personal passion.

Until you move away

Pillow hog and space eater,
chubby legs kicking my thighs.
Starfish hands pushing my chest
and unh unh unh in the darkness
until I roll over and let you feed.
Dream interrupter, devourer of sleep,
you take while I wait
until you move away.

Imagining a night with full sleep,
imagining a day with concentration,
uninterrupted, unrelenting,
unleavened.
Dreading the day
you move away.

The reviews

Here are excerpts from the reviews from the participating bloggers. I'll post the link to each once it goes live in the next couple days so you can read them in full.

I'm so touched by these reviews, and I hope you'll visit the sites of these bloggers. You can also read some sample poems there. As you enter the giveaway, you'll have a chance to connect with them further: Bonus entries include subscribing to their feeds and following them on Facebook and Twitter.

Her book guides us from miscarriage, onto birth and into parenting, with the full scale of emotions it brings. And emotional it is, her poetry. I was often brought to tears, only to suppress a giggle at the next page. From pumping, to PPD, to renewed fertility, Lauren shuns no topic.

This is poetry straight from the heart, with all the flaws and failure, all the successes and joys parenting brings. Sometimes raw and crude, other times gentle and loving, but always recognizable.

For me, the beauty of poetry is for an author to be able to take a basic human emotion that countless people before have felt, and give that emotion life. It is an interesting experience to be reading truly beautiful poetry and have it feel as if the author was with you during a specific moment in life, and writes for you, as if they have had a glimpse in to your heart, in to your soul, and in to the quiet feelings and thoughts that lurk only in your own heart and mind. To see your exact thoughts and feelings poured out on to a paper, and given new beauty, meaning and character is truly a beautiful gift. Lauren Of Hobo Mama has given me such a gift through her incredibly powerful, moving and poignant writing. As I read "End Of Bleeding", a poem on miscarriage, I truly felt as if Lauren had been there with me through the raw emotions that I felt, and had been the voice to release in to the world the thousands of feelings and emotions that coursed through my body during those times in my life.

How Lauren is able to purely encapsulate the emotions of the heart and give that softness and warmth of reassurance, I have no idea. I don't question it, as I am wrapped up in the comfort of her poetry and writing. I simply allow myself to be taken on the beautiful journey with her, and be taken in to her words as she somehow seems to know my own journey as well.

…

I most certainly will be including this book in future Baby Shower gift baskets, and very much look forward to more writing by the wonderful, and always inspiring Lauren Wayne.

Lauren Wayne's Poetry of a Hobo Mama is motherhood as art, speaking to our very souls, asking us to cry from sadness and happiness, reminding us that there is no other greater purpose while at the same time allowing us our own small place in something much bigger. It is raw and honest, exposing our fears and hopes, calling us to grow rather than callous and stunt ourselves, just as we nurture that in our children.

I never understood that becoming a mother would connect me to the heartache and joys and wisdom and love - all of the beautiful and ugly things that go along with motherhood and every other woman who has carried a child in her womb or her heart. I never understood that reading about another woman's pregnancy loss could touch me so deeply. That someone's thoughts about the first time her son would have a broken heart would make me ponder my own future reactions so fervently. Poetry never tugged at my heart strings quite so profoundly . . . until I became a mother.

…

I wasn't quite prepared for the laughs, tears, and head nods that I'd be doing as I devoured Lauren's poetry. Sometimes I found my body swaying softly to the rhythmic lyrics she often composes. Or brought up short by twisty endings. Or zinged by a clever turn of phrase that always made me think, I want to write like that!

In her book Lauren explores everyday parenting milestones, trials and tribulations. From conception, pregnancy, misscariage, birth, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, babywearing and more, motherhood is explored with passionate, witty, raw, and intense words that melt beautifully together into poetry.

Lauren is inspiring, a passionate mother and her honesty and reflection on motherhood from poem to poem shows a journey of transformation, inner strength, doubt and frustration, empowerment and self-reflection that every mother can relate to.

Lauren's poems cover the full gamut of the early parenting journey from

miscarriage (Why were we led all that way, and never to see your face?)
toconception (Charting, temping, noting fluids and marking good days on each month’s calendar.)
to pregnancy (Kicking me under my heart for all those months. Just under my heart.)
tothe first taste of mother's intuition (People told me when you were due, as if you were a term paper and to turn in late would earn a failing grade. We ignored them, didn't we?)
to birth (Light sped into your eyes, and electricity arced in connection between us, as I defied gravity and orbited you.)
to the mourning of the life you left behind (I have wanted people to know there is more than joy in being a mother, that there is frustration and regret, strain on a marriage, lack of sleep, lack of time, lack of peace.)

Lauren also writes about postpartum depression, breastfeeding, pumping, babywearing, her love for her husband, and the magic of the smallest moments of parenting that seem to make the most lasting impressions upon us.

Some of Lauren's words will haunt you as you recognize the thoughts you may have been afraid to speak out loud, and some will remind you of the incredible universality of the mothering experience. No matter which end of the spectrum her poems touch, and regardless of what you have experienced yourself, I have no doubt that Poetry of a Hobo Mama: The First Three Years will provide you with a real and refreshing take on motherhood. I look forward to revisiting these poems and to seeing how Lauren captures the continuation of her parenting journey.

About the author

In case it hasn't become apparent, I live and write in the Pacific Northwestern USA, with my husband, Sam, and our two sweet boys: four-year-old Mikko (almost five, he would tell you!) and ten-month-old baby Alrik (who persistently makes the concerned face you see in the picture at right). I have been writing and publishing poetry for twenty-five years, but parenting has added even more inspiration. Poetry allows me to be honest about my emotional journey and to show an image, pin down a feeling, in a way that other writing does not.

Mikko and I grace the book's cover — that's me breastfeeding Mikko in public on a Seattle beach when Mikko was just a few months old.

BUY IT!

You can purchase your own copy of Poetry of a Hobo Mama at Amazon and CreateSpace. It's available internationally and on Kindle through Amazon. The list price is $11.99 for the paperback and $9.99 for the ebook.

Just for our readers, I'm offering a 20% discount on all book orders through CreateSpace only. (Amazon unfortunately won't allow coupon codes.) Enter code SAP84AYJ during the ordering process.

WIN IT!

For your own chance to win one of seven copies of Poetry of a Hobo Mama, enter by leaving a comment and using the Rafflecopter system below.

Contest is open WORLDWIDE.

Note that if you have any trouble entering your comments on Hobo Mama, this giveaway is also cross-posted on Hobo Mama Reviews, where the commenting controls are lighter.

MANDATORY ENTRY:Share one of your favorite parenting moments.

We will draw one winner for each blog, so we'll also ask which blog you're entering from.

Leave a valid email address so we can contact you if you win. Email addresses in Rafflecopter are not made publicly visible. Please leave the same valid email address in your mandatory comment so we can verify entries.

Since this is a joint giveaway, the Rafflecopter form is the same across each site. You may enter at one site only, but please do visit and enjoy all the sites!

BONUS ENTRIES:
See the Rafflecopter entry system for bonus entries to increase your chance of winning after completing the mandatory entry. All bonus entries are entered into Rafflecopter. Give it a try, and email or leave a comment if you have any questions!

a Rafflecopter giveaway&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://rafl.es/enable-js"&amp;amp;gt;You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;.

12
comments:

I love that my daughter will think up words and then annouce, "____ starts with ____! Recently she informed me that "Charlotte starts with S!" While wrong, she recognized the blended sound, so hey! Not bad!

One of my favorite parenting moments is when my son will randomly blurts out during the day, "I love you mommy!" Ahhh...melts my heart and makes me feel like I am doing something right! He has also recently started saying, "ohhhh mama..." in a lovey way! <3

I enjoy travel poetry as well as the poetry in the Bible. My favorite, that I reflect on often, especially when I think about all of the wonderful and unique things about my son is, Psalm 139: 13-14 - "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful..."

My favorite parent moment or moments I should say are when I am nursing my daughter and looking into her eyes and we are making a connection that is so powerful and so special that there isn't anything as great as those moments. Its simply amazing and I couldn't ever ask for more. amymccarty at hotmail dot com

I'm not a parent but still interested in your book. One of my favorite moments being an aunt has been having my niece learn my name and see her grow and learn so much. And to see my husband interact with her, he's so good with kids. Sorry this a lame answer but it's the best I can do.

I'm not a parent yet (we've been trying for about 2 years) but I love your blog and writing style! I love just watching kids as they learn and develop...like watching the light go off in their head when they first really understand something!

my favorite parenting moment would definitely be the moment Arlo was born. I know it sounds a bit cliche, but we just looked at each other and i was in LOVE! after 40 hours of labor, having to hightail it to the hospital b/c of home birth complications, and being stuck at 9.5 cm dilation for an entire day... we were both relieved to be together at last. When he looked into my eyes he had a look like "FINALLY!!!!"

My daughter loves giving kisses at the moment - she gently comes up and will kiss my leg (about knee height as that's where she is!) and softly presses her face to me. A gentle reminder to pause, cuddle and be thankful for what I have.

sign up for hobo mama news

meet hobo mama

Riding the rails with my husband, Crackerdog Sam, and our hobo kids, Mikko Lint Picker (born June 2007), Alrik Irontrousers (born May 2011), and Karsten (born October 2014). Trying every day to parent intentionally and with grace.